Ok, let's state the obvious here. His parents wrote a great script that probably took little Billy a while to memorize, given the pauses for dramatic effect, inflections, sotto voce , and the 'sure shootin' ".
Parents do stupid things like this all of the time. It's a pageantry of sorts. The opportunity to live vicariously through a little person gives you the chance to say as much as you want, or as passively as you want and to label it as cute.
But hey, parents--your child isn't singing Raffi, or breakdancing here. This isn't a 'kids say the darnedest things' moment. He's spitting political ideology and carefully crafted statements of hate that he should have no opinion on. While he should have been outside playing, you had him on the steps denouncing a world leader. While you should have been making that PB&J sandwich for him and asking him about school, you had him spitting lies about welfare. While you should be teaching him gun safety, you have him pointing, shooting, and blowing smoke off a gun. And my favorite--why didn't you take the time to teach him the countries of the world instead of having him question the President's nationality?
I've got a great idea. I think the 'parental patriots' need to post a follow up video. I would love to hear the sweet child explain to us his interpretation of welfare, who the 'good' people are that we are taking guns from, and once again, I would love for him to start naming some of those countries on the map. Maybe he can show us some age appropriate skills, like spelling 'America', or adding up 4+4. That equals, eight, by the way--you know, like two presidential terms? Poor child.
Now we know, contrary to what makes 'sense', studies actually show that parents and family don't always have the most influential effect on crafting our lens when we are young and spongy, but to some extent they do. Dr. Joe Feagin (allow me to fangirl for a minute), one of the best professors I've ever had and one of the best researchers on race and America, co-wrote a great book (among countless others) on children, race, and sociological and psychological development entitled The First R: How Children Learn Race and Racism. We simply don't give children enough credit, folks. They're listening, watching, repeating, and trying to process everything we say on a daily basis.
Anyway, shame on you, parents. Hopefully some of our scholarly studies hold. Maybe he will look back on this video 20 years from now, cringe, and wish this never happened. Kind of like those horrible pictures your parents took of you in the bathtub and the rubber ducky?? Shudder....
Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.
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